Nanny Investigators Say Pair Wanted To Defraud Agency

December 22, 1990|by DICK COWEN, The Morning Call

Private investigators Anthony Padrone and Thomas Watts charge in federal court that a Lehigh County couple attempted to involve them in a child pornography hoax to defraud an agency that supplied an English nanny to care for the couple's 3-year-old daughter.

Padrone and Watts contend the couple gave them "delusions, lies and misrepresentations" that the child was subjected to sexual abuse at the nanny's hands and photos for an international child pornography ring.

They said this was all done in an effort to support the parents' claims against Experiment in International Living, of Washington, D.C., which supplied the nanny.

"The parents invented this alleged international conspiracy to serve their own paranoid needs and to extort money from Experiment in International Living," Padrone and Watts claim.

The couple, listed as John and Mary Doe in the 1990 federal suit, filed a complaint in Philadelphia County Court in 1989 against the agency.

In it, they charged that au pair Claire Blizard of England subjected their child "to bizarre experiences involving pornographic activities and sexual abuse" while serving the family from June 1987 until Jan. 19, 1988.

They said they first learned of this from the child about a month after the nanny returned home through what she told them and also professionals who examined the youngster.

This year, the Does filed a federal suit charging fraud and racketeering against Special Investigations Agency of 461 Linden St., Allentown, and what they labeled as SIA investigators Thomas G. Murtaugh, Padrone and Watts and supervisor Virginia E. Yeager.

The Does said the detective agency fleeced them of about $40,000 in its investigation of the sexual abuse of their 3-year-old by the English nanny.

They said SIA detectives created a climate of fear and falsely told the Does their child was a victim of an international child pornography ring.

And they said the SIA operatives persuaded them to pay for bringing a psychic into their home and sending Padrone and Watts to Europe to track down pornographic pictures of their child.

In response, defense documents contend Murtaugh is the only one with a financial interest in SIA.

Padrone describes himself as "an independent contractor paid on a per-service basis."

Watts calls himself a "voluntary investigative-consultant and service provider."

They say in their response this week that the sexual abuse and pornographic photographing of the child are all a hoax generated by the Does.

"The Does brainwashed their daughter into these beliefs through repeated interrogations suggesting these activities," Padrone and Watts say in an answer filed this week.

They contend "Mrs. Doe was illegally packing a pistol ... to do violence to their imagined enemies."

SIA says its investigation included the FBI, Immigration, Customs, Canadian Customs, Allentown Police Department, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics, Lehigh County District Attorney's office, Copenhagen Municipal Police in Denmark, Amsterdam police in Holland and, through the FBI, "Scotland Yard" and local police in England.

Each reference to "Scotland Yard" by Padrone and Watts in their answer is in quotes.

They allege SIA performed a thorough and professional investigation -- resisting efforts by the Does to have them engage in such illegal activities as "breaking and entering, illegal wiretapping and falsification of reports and testimony."

Padrone and Watts concede they went on the European trip to obtain evidence of the child being used for pornography.

But they say that was at the insistence of the Does -- whereas Padrone and Watts said they suggested hiring European investigators. They say the Does threatened suit against SIA if Murtaugh refused to give authorization for the trip.

Padrone and Watts say they told the Does that the European mission to find pornographic pictures of the child was "like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

They deny they visited prostitution centers while in Copenhagen and Amsterdam. But they admit many of the pornography shops in those cities were in red-light districts.

Padrone and Watts say they "did view child pornography confiscated by police in Copenhagen and Amsterdam."

The Does had charged the European trip for Padrone and Watts cost them $13,000 -- against what they said was a budgeted figure of $3,000.

Padrone and Watts also say that when the Does signed on with SIA, they agreed that any dispute over fees be settled by arbitration.

"An arbitrator satisfactory to both sides was selected. The arbitrator rendered his decision," Padrone and Watts say. "SIA abided by that decision. The Does seek to circumvent their agreement to arbitrate by filing this lawsuit."

Padrone and Watts ask U.S. District Judge E. Mac Troutman to throw out the Does' suit and award the defendants legal fees as well.